I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 242: Chapter 240: The Case Has Been Transferred to the Municipal Bureau

After she finished washing up.

Su Miaoyi was on the living room balcony, teasing An’an with a cat wand.

After a while, she saw Shen Yanzhou standing on his balcony, a cup of coffee in hand.

He gave off the vibe of a successful man enjoying a quiet morning before spending the rest of the day making bank.

"Up so early?"

"Why are you here again?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"What do you mean?" Shen Yanzhou took a few steps toward her. "Tired of me?"

"No, what I mean is... why are you always cooped up at home when you’re not working?" Su Miaoyi asked. "I see other people going out all the time. Cruises, beaches, private islands."

"I travel enough for work. When I finally get a break, of course I want to be at home," Shen Yanzhou said.

"No wonder you can’t find a girlfriend," Su Miaoyi muttered.

It felt like Shen Yanzhou had been struck by lightning on a clear day. "That’s a personal attack."

"I’m just helping you analyze the situation." Su Miaoyi also stepped closer to him. "Based on my... many years of work experience, no one falls in love with their boss. We just want to stay as far away from our superiors as possible. So it’s unlikely you’ll find a girlfriend at work. And when you’re not working, you’re at home. You don’t meet anyone new. Look around this place. Besides me, what other woman is there?"

"There’s me! There’s me!"

A woman’s shout suddenly came from upstairs.

Su Miaoyi and Shen Yanzhou exchanged a look, both seeing the surprise in the other’s eyes. Then, in perfect sync, they tilted their heads to look up at the balcony above.

Then the woman upstairs started shouting again, "Besides you, who has homework to do, there’s me, who has to get up early on my precious day off to help you with it! And you’re complaining about who’s up so early on a Sunday? It’s been two hours, and you’re still not done with your math homework!"

Su Miaoyi and Shen Yanzhou exchanged another look.

The two listened in silence.

"Why was I the one doing homework thirty years ago, and thirty years later, I’m still the one doing homework!" the woman yelled. "What are you looking at me for?! Is the answer on my face?! Calculate! Use your fingers, what’s sixteen plus nine! Count! If you run out of fingers, use your toes."

Su Miaoyi held her breath, not daring to make a sound.

Almost half a minute later, the woman’s voice rang out again: "Twenty?! Twenty?"

Su Miaoyi closed her eyes.

’It’s over, he got it wrong. The suspense is killing me.’

"Does it have to be twenty just because you ran out of fingers and toes?" the woman yelled. "Didn’t I just lend you my hands?!"

"I don’t want to borrow them," Su Miaoyi heard a little boy say crisply.

After he said that, Su Miaoyi heard nothing for a long time, and then, suddenly, the woman’s hysterical laughter.

She looked at Shen Yanzhou.

Shen Yanzhou took a sip of coffee to calm his nerves. "Listening to this makes me want to give raises to all the employees with kids."

Hearing this, Su Miaoyi clasped her fists together. "How benevolent."

"Being single has its perks," Shen Yanzhou said. "At least on my days off, I’m listening to other people tutor their kids, not being driven to a breakdown by my own."

Su Miaoyi nodded. "When did someone move in upstairs?"

"Last Sunday, I think," Shen Yanzhou said. "I ran into them in the elevator when I got home from work."

"It’s been so quiet. I haven’t heard a thing," Su Miaoyi said. "I always thought no one lived up there."

"The soundproofing must be good. Or maybe they moved in during the day but didn’t start staying here until recently."

Given the homework-tutoring situation, Su Miaoyi was inclined to agree with his theory.

"About you and Zhuang Yanzheng..." Shen Yanzhou suddenly asked.

"You heard about it too?" Su Miaoyi said.

Shen Yanzhou nodded. "How are you handling it?"

"I’m going to report it to the police in a bit." Su Miaoyi woke up An’an, who had fallen asleep again.

Seeing she had a plan, he didn’t press the matter. "I heard Ji Jiabao was also taken in for fighting last night?"

Su Miaoyi looked at him. "Are there no secrets in Jinghai? There was hardly anyone there last night. How do you already know today?"

’Cai Qinglian and Ji Sheng still knew she was there, though.’

"What secrets can there be?" Shen Yanzhou said. "Outside of work, I like to enjoy a bit of everyone’s drama."

"How boring," Su Miaoyi said, then looked at him eagerly. "Do you have any particularly juicy gossip? Tell me."

Shen Yanzhou: "..."

...

Su Miaoyi took the phone recording from that morning and went to the police station to file a report.

This sort of thing wouldn’t result in a severe penalty.

A public apology, a clarification of the rumors, or a fine and detention.

But after a police report, their apologies would carry more weight.

She also wanted to give them a warning.

Perhaps because Ji Jiabao was still being investigated, Ji Sheng and Cai Qinglian were very cooperative after Su Miaoyi filed the report. They admitted to everything without much trouble.

After filing the report in the morning, Su Miaoyi was walking An’an in the community park as the sun began to set.

’Want to sleep? Not a chance.’

She sat on a bench, picked up a small stick from the grass, and teased An’an with it.

As she played with the cat, she suddenly felt someone watching her.

She whipped her head around just in time to see a figure flash past behind a nearby apartment building.

All she saw was a fleeting shadow in white clothes, moving so fast she couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman.

At this time on a weekend, there were quite a few kids in the complex, both older and younger.

She wasn’t sure if it was just some of them playing around.

She picked up An’an and went straight to the security room to check the surveillance footage.

But the spot behind the building was a blind spot; none of the cameras covered it.

After that, Su Miaoyi checked the footage from the complex’s perimeter walls.

She didn’t find anything there either.

Su Miaoyi started to wonder if she was just being overly suspicious.

On her way back from the security room, Su Miaoyi kept an eye on her surroundings. Just as she entered her building, she got a call from Zhuang Yanzheng. "Captain Zhuang."

"Come down to the Municipal Bureau. The case from my family’s restaurant last night has been transferred to us."

"Huh?" Su Miaoyi was confused but didn’t ask any more questions. "Okay, I’ll be right there."

Normally, a case of brawling wouldn’t make it to the Municipal Bureau.

’Why so suddenly...?’

She called a car and left immediately, still holding An’an.

While waiting for the car by the roadside, she made a point to scan her surroundings.

She didn’t spot anyone suspicious.

She took a taxi to the Municipal Bureau.

It was the weekend, but everyone had returned and was already in work mode.

Su Miaoyi went to see Zhuang Yanzheng first, with An’an in her arms. "Captain Zhuang, what’s going on with the case? I was walking him when I got the call, and I rushed over without thinking to take him back home."

Zhuang Yanzheng glanced at An’an. "The two boys who were taken to the hospital last night are dead."

Su Miaoyi was shocked. "Yan Cheng said neither of them had fatal injuries. And... the ambulance arrived so quickly. How could this happen?"